In pictures: Beirut blast

An explosion in a residential area of the Lebanese capital has caused several deaths and dozens of injuries.

Fri Oct 19 2012 18:27:48 GMT+0000

Wissam al Hassan, one of Lebanon's top security officers, was killed in the explosion. He led the investigation that linked Syria and Hezbollah to the killing of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in 2005.

A wounded woman is carried at the site of an explosion in Ashrafieh, central Beirut, October 19, 2012. The fire service said that at least eight people were killed and dozens wounded by a huge exlosion that detonated in a residential and commercial street in central Beirut on Friday.

Burning cars and damaged buildings are left at the site of the Ashafriyeh explosion.

A Lebanese rescue worker, center, helps an injured man at the scene. The explosion sheared the balconies off residential buildings and sent bloodied victims pouring out into the streets in the most serious blast this city has seen in years.

Dozens of people have been wounded in an explosion in central Beirut, as residents and emergency services rushed to help the injured.

Lebanese civilians carry injured people away from the scene of the explosion in the mostly Christian neighborhood.